WSJ: China’s Satellites Guide Iranian Missiles to Strike U.S. Base in Jordan; Beijing Denies - Sarmad
The Wall Street Journal reported that Tehran obtained Chinese satellite images of a U.S. base in Jordan, which it targeted with missiles, killing American soldiers, according to U.S. officials, amid Beijing’s denial of these allegations.
As the meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping approaches, Beijing denies involvement in providing these images to Tehran. U.S. officials stated that Iran used high-resolution images from Chinese satellites to carry out a missile attack on the Al-Asad Airbase in Jordan on July 17.
The attack resulted in the deaths of three U.S. soldiers, according to official U.S. data. Washington considers this development “the clearest evidence of the deadly consequences of Chinese support for Tehran,” particularly after repeated warnings and sanctions imposed by the U.S. administration in May on Chinese companies for their alleged role in supplying such imagery.
For its part, Beijing denied any direct involvement by the Chinese government, demanded evidence, and accused certain parties of attempting to draw China into the conflict. This revelation has heightened tensions between the two countries ahead of the Trump-Xi meeting scheduled for September 24.
While Trump seeks to maintain good relations with his Chinese counterpart, his administration is working to avoid public confrontations that could disrupt the summit.
Consequently, U.S. officials downplayed the significance of Chinese assistance in public statements, asserting that it did not alter the course of the conflict, despite growing domestic security concerns that Chinese technology enhances Iran’s ability to target U.S. forces in the Middle East.
Over three days following the July attack, Iran released high-resolution images showing damage in three separate sections of the Jordanian base.
The Wall Street Journal stated that its analysis of publicly available low-resolution satellite images revealed damage to more than 20 facilities in those three areas.
